Black Powder War

During my lunch break today, I finished up Black Powder War, the third in Naomi Novik's "Temeraire" series. This is a solid entry in the series and, fortunately, a bit more balanced than the previous book. This novel takes the main characters from China to Turkey where they have orders to obtain 3 dragon eggs and transport them back to England. These aren't just any eggs, but a particular breed of fire breathing dragons which would ultimately give England a strategic leg up on Napolean's forces. Of course nothing is ever that easy and sure enough, multiple adventures ensue. They end up in German lands in time for the battle of Jena.

It is nice to see this series incorporating real historical events in an authentic way. Ms Novik continues to excel at building an extremely believable fantasy landscape. This is the real historical record, with the added addition of dragons. Normally, that would be pretty difficult to pull off but her dragons are so well thought out that they seemlessly interface with the "normal" society. More importantly, the story continues to excel with compelling, sympathetic characters. She shows the brutal reality of war with corresponding loss of life (and yes, some characters we know from the past do not survive this battle) and yet the novel is not at all a "war" novel. The characters, especially Lawrence and Temeraire continue to grow and mature in their thinking, and themes that began in the last book continue here. For example, the nature of how dragons are treated by different cultures, whether they should be servants or equals, is examined further.

These first three books of the series, according to Ms Novik's own blog, were held by the publisher until all were ready for publication as a way of launching the series. Consequently, many people believed them to be a trilogy. This third novel though, does little to wrap up anything but does spur interest in the next book. I am thankful for that as these books should be coming out at around one per year for quite a while to come. Already there are a total of 5 published volumes with more planned.

Play Dirty

I was introduced to the author Sandra Brown via an audio book that I borrowed from the library several years ago. She was and is a prolific author, with many novels to date, mostly of the sub genre romance thrillers. I tend to like thrillers of all kinds and since I'm not opposed to a little romance in the books I read I thought I would give her a try. That book was Envy and frankly, I really enjoyed it. Her style of writing seems well adapted to the audio book format and she has just enough twists and turns and suspense building to keep my interest through the 3-4 weeks that it takes me to listen to an audio book as I drive back and forth to work every day.

Five Sandra Brown books later I still enjoy them. I completed Play Dirty on the way into work this morning and it is no exception. It has an interesting premise that sets up the story: a star NFL quarterback has just recently been released from a 5 year prison sentence for gambling, throwing a key game, and other self-indulgent behavior. He is offered a deal to sire a baby for a wealthy corporate CEO and his wife who have picked him for his physical attributes. The CEO is in a wheel chair and can not sire a baby himself. The catch is, they aren't talking about invitro fertilization but rather...the old fashioned way. Of course that means, the CEO's wife and the ex con quarterback have to have sexual relations. This is just the setup and there are many more sub plots as well that lead us through the adventure.

While I enjoyed listening to this audio book, there were problems with it. The characters, to put it bluntly, just weren't likeable. That in itself can be OK, depending on the nature of the story but here, the author clearly hopes that we become sympathetic to the protagonist (the quarterback), hoping we come to believe he was just misunderstood. By the end of the novel we do get to see him in a better light but he is definitely a flawed chraracter. The other major characters I found to be very two dimensional though. Characters are supposed to grow in some fashion during a novel...better, worse, older, wiser...something. The CEO's wife for example, does grow but at such a breakneck pace that she is unbelievable. The coach, who is so bitter by the quarterback's betrayal 5 years ago that he can't see straight, makes a 180 degree turn at the end of the novel in the space of one paragraph. It seems to all be a bit too contrived.

Perhaps I am being too picky here. Afterall, I borrowed this audio book from the library to be entertained...and I was. I will borrow other Sandra Brown books occassionally as well because they never cease to entertain.

In the Company of Liars

Last night I finished David Ellis' novel In the Company of Liars. This book is very hard to describe, much less evaluate. In essence, it is a legal thriller involving murder, terrorists, government intrigue, FBI operations, and courtroom drama. But Mr Ellis decided to tell the tale in a unique manner: backwards. He begins the book at the end of the story and every scene in the entire novel takes place one or two days before what you just read. Now, I am normally not a person who goes in for gimmics. Too often authors like to prove how smart they are by fooling the reader with a gimmic of some kind. However, I had high hopes for this one (I knew about the backwards thing before I ever began to read) because of the author's first published novel, Line of Vision, which is one of the finest legal thrillers I've ever read.

I really struggled through the first third of this book. Most stories build up the plot and develop the characters in a logical progression, allowing the reader to absorb each new element one at a time. But here, since we are starting at the end, we have to see how all of the characters end up. We read about a suicide by a character but have no idea at the time who she is and why we should care. It's confusing to say the least. And to add to the confusion, the author frequently uses flashbacks of what the character is thinking...thoughts from their past...which we will read about in upcoming chapters...wow.

But then, suprisingly, it started to jell. But the time I was half way through the book, I knew who the main players were and what their motivations were. Now I wanted to know how events got to be the way they were. I'm sure that's how the author was approaching the whole book. The ending (beginning?) was quite good and went a long way in overcoming my initial objections to the "gimmic." I will admit to going back and re-reading the first 20-30 pages to see those events from the different perspective of knowing the whole story. That provided good closure for me. I would definitely classify this work as "smart" fiction, as the writing itself is well done, and obviously every aspect of the plot is well engineered. Overall, I am both happy to have read it and glad that it is behind me.

I also completed another short story from the More Twisted collection by Jeffrey Deaver. This one was called "The Poker Lesson" and was a good one, if not quite living up to the rare air of the previous two entrys. I knew there would be a twist, of course, and correctly assumed it would revolve around just who was teaching a lesson to whom. Only two more to go in this collection...

Next up: a return to fantasy with number 3 of Naomi Novick's Temeraire series: Black Powder War.